BT - The Crafty Gardener: The Daily Life of a 'Blow In' to Ireland from the UK, how we try and tame 5 acres and live with the weather - plus my family and crafting exploits.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Lovely walk with Buster - photos.

Flagmount reflected in Lough Graney, County Clare. Please click on the image for full effect.

Hello again. Rain rain go away. It's an awful day today with thick drizzle and mist and wind. No chance of any gardening in this. I have managed to do quite a bit of weeding and digging over the past week or two between the showers.

Buster's wound has healed very well, although he then split the skin between his back paw. He's just hopeless. We took him out on the lead for a few days so that he didn't run off and that has now healed too. On one of these walks I went to our local lake, Lough Graney and the water was still and the sky mostly blue. I let Buster off by the water and he was fine. As soon as I showed him the lead he came back to me. I was pretty amazed I must say. So, here are some of the photos I took:

Buster reflected.

Rocks and clouds in the lake.

The evening was drawing in and these rather moody clouds arrived. You can see the fishing stand on the right.

Time for a drink.

Flagmount hill reflected.

Two moons.

On the walk back, the cows in Kevin's barn were curious. Their eyes shine in the flash.

This post was actually started some time ago. Now the weather is much improved and we've had some lovely mild sunny days. I love the garden at this time of year.

Dublin

Jim and I took a 2 day trip to Dublin. The first day we wandered around enjoying the sites and sounds and in the evening we went to the Bord Gas Theatre and saw Madam Butterfly by Opera North. It was quite beautiful - the orchestra played the glorious music perfectly and Butterfly herself was superb.

These poles are outside the theatre, which is on the quayside. The poles lit up at night.

The Theatre, build during the 'Celtic Tiger' years, is a triumph.

We walked along the River Liffey into Dublin centre. What a weird building the one on the left was, here it is reflected in the water, together with an old boat.

An amazing bridge, shaped like a harp, straddles the Liffey. Can you see that old chair in the foreground?

I would have liked it!

Jim laughed at me when I became excited about this barbed wire! I have made this black and white. You can see the famine ship in the background.

A cup of tea had to be taken at Bewleys:

Yes, I'm growing out the colour in my hair at last. I actually quite like my grey!

Here's Jim in a huge shopping centre at St Stephens Green.

Here I am during the interval of Butterfly - you can see the poles lit up outside.

The following day we met up with some friends of Jim's from the Horticultural Society and spent the day looking at and learning about trees in Ireland. We were whizzed from one place to another in a coach. It was a fun and interesting day.

We drove through the Wicklow mountains, which were quite spectacular. It was a much sunnier day though quite cool in the mountain air.

We looked at how straight and fast certain trees grow for commercial use. At this place, called Avondale, 1 acre plots had been planted with different trees as an experiment - 100 years ago. What forward thinking.

Most of the group at Avondale - Jim is on the far left. Jim drove us home after that, via various mountain paths and pretty scenery. It was very late when we eventually arrived home, but we'd had a super 2 days break.

I will put the full sets of photos on Facebook if anyone would like to take a look.

How wonderful to read of your trip and the Opera. I'd love to see Dublin, it all looked so interesting. Beautiful moody lake pictures too!Yay a momma entry, well worth the wait too :-) Love you momma xxx

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About Me

I have had a varied and at times wild life of loves and marriages, children and grandchildren. Jim, my husband and I moved back from Ireland some time ago and I haven't had the heart to blog since. Now living on the balmy South Coast of England. I miss my 5 acres badly. Big Labour Party supporter as is Jim Deen my husband.